History has been created in Lok Sabha when the lower house passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Bill), granting 33% seats to women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
The Bill was passed with 454 votes in favour and two against it. The Bill proposes to provide 33% reservation to women in the Parliament and the state Assemblies.
The voting took place after heated debates on the Bill in the Lower House through the day.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi earlier addressed the Lok Sabha on the issue.
“There is one thing in my view that makes this Bill incomplete. I think OBC reservation should have been included in this Bill,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“There are also two things that seem strange to me – one is the idea that you require a new census and the second is that you required a new delimitation to implement this Bill,” he added.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi's claims of OBCs being sidelined, Home Minister Amit Shah said that 29% BJP MPs are from the OBC community.
“Your party never made a OBC PM, we did,” Shah said.
On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi's mother and Lok Sabha member from Rai Bareli Sonia Gandhi remembered his husband former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. She said that the bill was an emotional moment for her as her husband Rajiv Gandhi was the first to introduce a bill on reservation for women in local bodies.
She said that her party demands that this Bill be implemented immediately but there should be a caste census and the women of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC must be given reservation too. The government should take all necessary steps for this.”
Union home minister Amit Shah praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his women-led vision saying, “The passage of women's reservation bill will mark the start of a new era…Women's security, respect, and equal participation have been the life force of government since PM Modi took the oath of office…He also presented the vision of women-led progress in the G20.”Lok Sabha:
Taking a dig at the opposition, Shah said, “For some parties, women empowerment can be a political agenda and a political tool to win elections, but for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi it is not a political issue.
What is women's reservation bill?
The long-standing women reservation bill also known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 or the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', seeks to provide a 33 percent quota for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
According to the bill, one-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be reserved for women from those groups. These reserved seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the state or union territory
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, granting 33%% seats to women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
The Bill was passed with 454 votes in favour and two against it. The Bill proposes to provide 33%% reservation to women in the Parliament and the state Assemblies.){kind=link}